Where? What? When? How? Next?
Shedding light onto the most recent frequently asked questions from my closest friends to every other person…
In 2005 before I began law school we were required to finish the 800 page assigned reading, A Simple Justice, by a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist. It is the story of Brown v. Board of Education. Yes, 800 pages long! Some read it, some did not. Some did not want to admit they read it and enjoyed it! I couldn’t put it down—if history was written with this much diligence and passionate research I would have majored in History instead of English in college! I bring this up to share a quote by Charles Houston (creator of Howard Law School) which is somewhere in the book that has left a permanent imprint on my psyche. This quote resonates with me on an unprecedented level and remains my guiding pillar: “A lawyer is either a social engineer or a pest to society.”
I had worked as an educator prior to going to law school. I wanted to expand on my education reform commitment, a dedication innately embedded in my blueprint ever since I can recall, even prior to any outside influence of “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I am told by my maternal grandfather that even before I started formal schooling, as soon as I would learn something, anything, I would teach another.
Somewhere in the middle of my last job within the legal field, I instantly knew I had to leave the “system.” I worked for a great judge but my interaction with him was minimal and those with whom I had to interact shook my very core. The system thrived on mediocrity and incompetence, generally speaking; pepper and sprinkle an exception to the rule here and there.
I remain passionate about the law; I see it as the most empowering tool and feel privileged to have the wealth of knowledge I have attained through it. However, I also knew last June, given my experiences, I did not envision myself practicing in the public sectors of federal, state, and city law, or firm practices as I had known them—all of which encompass approximately 75% of the practice of law. Of the 25% which are left, 15% paid less than what I would make as a teacher and would be more akin to the role of a social worker than a lawyer. Therefore, I decided to give myself a year to see how I wanted to utilize my law degree given my public interest background.
In my humble view, ‘leaving the system’ is not really ‘beating the system’ yet I did not want to feel like I was part of the ‘disease’ even if I could never fully feel part of a ‘solution.’ This is not to say there is no value in working for the federal, state, city, or firm sectors, but at that point in my life, the value offered did not align with the value I sought.
Back to Part 4 of 4.
